


Matteusz Andrzejewski

by orphan_account



Series: Class Appreciation Week 2017 [1]
Category: Class (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Disney References, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Short
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-09-21 00:15:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9522299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A character study of Matteusz Andrzejewski.Written for Class Appreciation Week - Day One: Favourite Character!





	1. Aged Three

**Author's Note:**

> Each chapter is just a short snippet of the life that I imagine for Matteusz before we see him in the first episode.

Matteusz Andrzejewski loved Disney films.

He’d just had his third birthday when Piękna i Bestia was released in Poland, and he would beg his mama and tata to play it over and over again, until they both grew tired of it. They didn’t quite understand why he loved the film so much; he wasn’t a particularly creative child, so it wasn’t because of the animation, and it wasn’t because of the plot, because, being a three-year-old, he couldn’t properly understand the story. However, it made him happy, so they put up with his repeated watching, and thought little of it.

One day, whilst his tata was at work, his mama had eventually relented to his tantrums and allowed him to watch it yet again. As always, he had sat next to her, and mumbled along to the songs as they played, but, other than that, he was silent, watching in awe.

That was until, “The prince is pretty,” he’d commented, and his mother had just laughed, ruffling his hair.

“Princess, Matteusz,” she had smiled in response, thinking she was correcting her son’s innocent mistake.

Matteusz, blissfully ignorant to the meaning behind his words, insisted, “No, mama, the prince,” and, for good measure, he had hopped down from the chair and eagerly pointed to the screen, at the beast after his transformation.

His mother’s smile turned in to a frown as she reached for the remote and switched off the TV. Matteusz had pouted, and was beginning to protest, but his mama crouched in front of him, looking him in the eyes seriously, and he knew to be quiet. With her hands on his shoulders, forcing him to meet her eyes, she had said sternly, “Boys do not find other boys pretty, Matteusz.”


	2. Aged Six

Matteusz Andrzejewski concerned his teachers. He was a friendly enough boy, he just didn’t seem to make friends easily, and it wasn’t for lack of trying on his part, his cheerful spirit never once dampened by the harsh rejections of his classmates.

He would sit alone at lunch, too small to touch the floor with his feet so swinging his legs back and forth as he ate. As he spooned chicken soup in to his mouth, he would glance around the hall, waving to the children sat at other tables with a smile. Without fail, at least once each lunch a teacher would approach Matteusz, who was often humming to himself, and ask whether he wanted to go and sit with the other children; every time, without fail, the boy would smile widely and shake his head, saying, “I’m just fine, thank you.”

When they would all go out in to the yard to play, bundled up in their warmest coats and mismatched gloves and scarves, Matteusz could always be found on the secluded bench closest to the door. Even when the rain had made the old wood damp and peeling, he would sit and watch the other children play, his elbows resting on his knees. He never seemed miserable or bored, however, sometimes momentarily distracted by a scuttling beetle or drawing patterns in the crisp snow with his boots on particularly cold days. And just the same as at lunch, when a teacher would ask, voice filled with concern, whether he was okay, Matteusz would smile and nod, “I’m fine, thank you.”

But the most worrying time was when the boys were getting changed for the school play, and a teacher noticed a line of bruises running up Matteusz’s arm. Of course, he was a six-year-old boy, so a couple of bruises were nothing out of the ordinary, but the nagging feeling of something being wrong played on the teacher’s mind, and she pulled him aside after the play. “Matteusz, what are those bruises on your arm?” she had asked kindly, not wanting to upset the boy.

“Nothing,” Matteusz had replied, sticking his arm through his sleeve to cover up the marks from his father’s belt, “I’m fine, thank you.”


	3. Aged Nine

Matteusz Andrzejewski knew that he was not like the other children in his class. By this time, he had managed to make a steady group of friends, and even though they kicked around a football in the yard together, he still knew that he was different from them all.

It became even clearer when, on one of the days where it had been so cold that ice had formed across the yard and so they were all kept inside for break, their lazy chatter had turned to a serious interrogation of the boys in the group over which of the girls they liked.

Matteusz had joined in with the teasing of Daniel when, after a good ten minutes of coaxing he blushed his way through mumbling, “Liliana.” A couple of their friends had responded to his answer by running over to Liliana and her friends and pulling her over to their table to turn Daniel an even darker shade of red. And though Matteusz had laughed, he didn’t understand why his friends were so interested in this girl.

After that it was Patryk’s turn, and once again Matteusz feigned his interest in the boy’s nervous rambling about the pretty, dark-skinned, and dark-haired girl called Joanka who always sat at the front of the class and who always got the questions right. Wiktor followed with Zofia, and Jakub with Lena, and then Albin who was pushed in to admitting that he liked the girl who sat next to him in almost every class, Stefa. 

Finally, the conversation had found its way to Matteusz, and, when asked, he had shrugged, scrunching up his face confused, as he honestly stated, “None of them.”


	4. Aged Twelve

Matteusz Andrzejewski had his first crush. It was his final year of elementary school, and there was a new boy that had been transferred to his class; the boy’s name was Aureliusz and he was sat next to Matteusz in maths.

Aureliusz was quite a lot taller than Matteusz, although that wasn’t hard, and would often rest his head on Matteusz’s shoulder when class got boring. He was almost the complete opposite of Matteusz: a boy with soft, curled, black hair and thick glasses that emphasised his wide, hazel eyes; his tanned skin and tall, thin stature looked out of place next to the pale and chubby Matteusz.

But Matteusz knew that, unlike the other boys in his class, he could not tell anyone that he loved how Aureliusz’s curls tickled his chin when they would work together on a particularly difficult question, as his mother’s words replayed in his head, as he reminded himself that boys shouldn’t like other boys that way.

**Author's Note:**

> Who else would I choose but my tiny gay son?
> 
> Kudos and comments are highly appreciated!!


End file.
